Am I crazy? Betting US Open odds against Tiger kind of crazy? Maybe. Because I’m about to defend Marian Hossa.

As much as we love to drag athletes through the mud, condemn them for being selfish and spoiled and call them bad role models — and I’m part of this populus — it’s time to point a finger the other way and call the lot of us sports predictions pundits a bunch of hypocrites.

Everyone giggled with glee at the site of Hossa being on the wrong side of the Stanley Cup result yet again. Har har! He shunned Pittsburgh, switched sides and gets shafted again! Everyone loved to see Hossa lose because he was “selfish” and bolted for Detroit.

Let me ask you something though — what is it that usually makes us call a player selfish? it’s greed, right? Being a merc, signing with a crappy team for a big payday, right? So why are we suddenly chastizing Hossa for signing with the team he felt gave him the best chance to win? Isn’t that supposed to be a virtue — caring more about the sport, about winning, than the money?

Keep in mind that…

(a) Hossa owed nothing to Pittsburgh — he didn’t sign there, he was traded there at the deadline.

(b) Hossa signed a one-year deal with Detroit in hopes of winning a cup. He could’ve hit the jackpot with a seven-year deal somewhere else but he risked, say, losing it all to a career-ending injury and chose Detroit.

So I say we leave Hossa alone. I never liked him a lot as a player — I’ve always felt he wilted when the going got tough — but I have no problem with his motivation. It’s not like was Johnny Damon in baseball or even Brett Favre hinting at going to the Vikings to boost their NFL odds — Hossa didn’t jump to a bitter divisional rival. He just left a team he’d been a part of for a few months.

If he had special betting software that could’ve told him the Pens would win, I’m sure he would’ve stayed. You can’t blame a guy for just wanting to win.

Sorry. I’m mentally loafing like Rachel “vacation” Alexandra in Belmont Stakes betting. BURN!

But what else can you say in a headline when you’re discussing a guy named Max?

Clap, clap, clap. Anyone who caught Stanley Cup betting on the tube last night probably saw that Pittsburgh’s Maxime Talbot was the best guy on the ice. Back checking, breaking up passes, going into the corner, scoring a couple of goals (hey — even the empty netter was kind of impressive…he shot it from far away!)…he was a force out there for the Penguins.

Some more reasons why Maxime Talbot is cool:

1. He’s scrappy. Gets by on hustle, speed, worth ethic, smarts.

2. Don Cherry loves him even though he’s French. What’s up with that?

3. He’s an impersonator. Remember when he put Crosby’s jersey on during a practice? What a trickster! And I thought Pete Rose was the crazy one for bettin’ on MLB odds.

4. He’s a LADIES’ MAN.

5. He DELIVERS YOUR TICKETS!

Uh, I kind of want to be Maxime Talbot now.  He’s cool and he’s a big reason why the Penguins’ NHL betting hopes just got a lot better. I’m betting management in Pittsburgh didn’t know how much they were getting when they first got this guy.

Just as often as basketball betting produces endless Kobe/LeBron/D-Wade debates, hockey betting these days is relentless with Crosby/Malkin/Ovechkin debates. And, after participating in a bunch of NHL betting forums over the last few months, I’m sick…and tired…of the Crosby bashing.

It’s not that I don’t think he deserves any criticism– didn’t I post an anti-Crosby song last month? — but it should be restricted to calling him a whiner, diver or baby.

What really gets my goat is when online betting players start trying to tell me Sid the Kid is overrated. That makes my blood boil! Just because two of his peers happen to be the other two best players of the last, say, 15 years or so doesn’t mean Crosby is a bust! That’s like saying Yzerman and Mario were busts because “Gretzky left them in the dust.” Nuh-uh.

Let’s crunch some NHL betting numbers.

Sidney Crosby’s first four full NHL single season point totals

102

122

72 (injury-shortened)

103

Now, Crosby was supposed to be the next Great One, right? And according to Wayne’s first four years…

104

137

164

212

Crosby is waaaay behind, right. Yes, but that doesn’t make him a friggin bust!

Lets look at the first four seasons of the other members of hockey betting’s top-five all time scorers (we’ll use No. 6 Yzerman since Howe didn’t play long enough seasons):

Mark Messier: 33, 63, 88, 106

Ron Francis: 68, 90, 83, 81

Marcel Dionne: 77, 90, 78, 121

Steve Yzerman: 87, 89, 42 (injury), 90

Sidney Crosby: 102, 122, 72, 103

HMMM, seems to me like Crosby has started off better than all that elite company. Also, his career points per game mark of 1.37 places him FIFTH-BEST ALL TIME, behind only Gretzky, Lemieux, Bossy and Orr.

COME ON! CROSBY ISN’T A BUST! GIVE THE KID A BREAK! In theory, his points-per-game numbers could rise even more considering that he’s at least five years away from his prime.

So please, NHL betting fans, sit back and enjoy the Stanley Cup odds. And give Crosby a round of applause for a change. He’s more than living up to the hype.

While reading my usual Final Four odds chatter (it’s almost over…then the Stanley Cup betting playoffs will get the attention they deserve), I stumbled upon a hilarious anti-Crosby song released by the band Pummeler.

I think this is the song…production value seems kind of crappy, if you ask me. Seems like Pummeler sucks too. But I digress:

Here are the lyrics:

Crosby Sucks

A complainer, a lamer
not a future hall of famer
got Bettman’s,
affection
but he’s surely not “The Next One”
his mouth is always
running
with his swollen flapping lips
that he puckers up for
Mario
when he isn’t sucking……

Crosby sucks
he’s out of luck,
cause all the
tears and press attention will not
help him catch
Ovechkin
Crosby sucks

He’s a diver, a whiner
with a wimpy
one-timer
a cheater, a bleater
and a loser, not a leader
he talks a lot
of smack because
he thinks he’ll kick your butt
he’ll just hit you with
his stick
and then he’ll punch you in the nuts

Canadian
sensation
well at least on certain stations
a poster child for
francophiles
who dance to Zombie Nation
all his fans are morons
who
defend his every stunt
and the “C” that’s on his chest
well it really
stands for…

Crosby sucks
like laser pucks, though you can
dress
him up with lipstick, you can’t
photoshop statistics
Crosby sucks

A
yoni, a phony
losing races with zambonis
it’s scary how you’re
married
to Lemieux and Donna Cherry
you aren’t worth this music
or your
40 million bucks, you’ll
waste your life in Pittsburgh
and you’ll never
win the Cup

Crosby sucks,
won’t win the cup, how can the
fans of
Swann and Bettis
stand in line to buy his sweater?
and stand behind his
letters
when Malkin’s clearly better?
Crosby sucks

WAAH, WAAH,
WAAH, WAAH, WAAH, WAAH, WAAH, WAAH
BOO HOO, CINDY CRIESBY

Whatever you online betting fans think of the song, there was a nice little Easter egg on Pummeler’s MySpace page: this cool Ovechkin tribute set to (!) hip-hop music. Pretty awesome. Makes me want to watch more Caps NHL betting.

Pittsburgh fans are lucky right now. March Madness odds have Pittsburgh as as one of the top contenders to win a national title, the Steelers are reigning Super Bowl champs, and now the Penguins are back in a big way among NHL betting juggernauts.

It’s amazing what a few astute moves can do to a team’s online betting prospects. The Penguins were a joke just a month ago, flirting with 11th place alongside the friggin’ Leafs. Now, they’re surging toward home-ice advantage in the playoffs.  What’s the secret to their success? Here’s a little timeline.

February 15: Penguins fire head coach Michel Therrien, promote Dan Bylsma. Their record with their new coach: 10-1-3. You can always bet at the sportsbook that a team will play better with a new coach, at least temporarily, but that “novelty” phase has passed and the Pens are still dominating.

February 27: New acquisition Chris Kunitz scores in his first game as a Penguin. Now playing with Sidney Crosby, he has 11 points in nine games with Pittsburgh. The Pens’ record with Kunitz: 8-0-2. See a trend, online betting fans?

March 4: Pittsburgh acquires Bill Guerin at the trade deadline and inserts him among the top six forwards. He has eight points in six games with the team and their record is 4-0-2 in that time.

The Penguins have clearly restocked their cupboard and suddenly look like a team no one wants to face in the first round of Stanley Cup betting.

It worked for Magic Johnson and Larry Bird in their NBA betting heyday. It sure as hell works for the Yankees and Red Sox every time they went toe-to-toe in MLB odds. So what’s wrong with the growing rivalry between Sid and Ovechkin? Maybe some people don’t like Sid’s whining or Ovechkin’s theatrics, but I think the sports world needs some lighter entertainment right now, and that includes NHL betting. Here’s a look at the most recent chapter in this soap opera (from yesterday)…

I’m more partial to Ovechkin…I’d bet on him over Sid at the sportsbook if they ever went toe to toe. Don’t you think Alexander the GR8 would have a granite jaw?

What do you think, online betting players?